Living Prop: Difference between revisions

 

 

'''Eric Cartman:''' ...Yeah, I've only seen that kid in class, but he never does anything. He's more like a prop.|''[[South Park]]'', "Professor Chaos"}}

 

* The reporter from ''[[Tokyo Mew Mew]]'' actually got into the character popularity poll for the manga, despite having no character and only showing up in a few panels to cover the [[Magical Girl]]s' exploits on the news.

* In ''[[Keroro Gunso]]'', starting with episode 63, the 24 nameless students of Fuyuki's classroom receive unique designs which are carried over in any classroom scene after that episode. They even appear sometimes outside of classes too. A new extra was added in the 3rd season without any formal introduction. They're never credited or named, even when one of them actually gets a small active role, and, although Fuyuki has mentioned his school friends a few times, he's never shown actually hanging out with any of his classmates.

* Pandaman from ''[[One Piece]]''. Or is it Pandamen?

** Though [[Lady Land|Amazon Lily]] has a Panda''woman''.

** And Tenten, who [[Word of God]] says exists only to be the [[The Smurfette Principle|Token Female]] for Team Guy.

* ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]] StrikerS'' makes sneaky use of this character type's ability to be ignored by the audience by having one of these, {{spoiler|a girl secretary [[Meaningful Background Event|we're actually shown skittishly edging towards]] [[General Ripper|General Regius]] near the end of the season,}} turn out to be {{spoiler|the [[Master of Disguise|disguised]] [[Hollywood Cyborg|cyborg]] [[Psycho for Hire|assassin]].}}

** There is also some kitchen staff which never gets any mention.

* In the second season of ''[[K-On!]]'' the entirety of class 3-2 consists of distinct, individual characters, who can be seen in various scenes of the classroom and even in the opening sequence. Several of them have even gained their own fanbase, most notably Tachibana Himeko, previously known as "The Girl Who Sits Next To Yui".

{{quote|'''Siler:''' [[Lampshade Hanging|Oh no, not again!]]}}

** For other examples of former Living Props later going on to play a bigger role, see Jonathan in ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''...

* For ''[[I Love Lucy]]'' Ricky's band members shown during night club scenes.

** A literal example - the baby chicks.

* ''[[The Bill]]'' calls such characters "Totally Reliable Extra Veterans" (TREVs).

* In ''[[Friends]]'', Gunther the barista started as one of these, but was elevated to a side character due to jokes based on his crush on Rachel.

** Lt. Galloway also fits. Galloway has also kinda sorta returned from the dead; the writers remembered his death in time to change the character's name to "Johnson" at the last minute, but when he appeared again in the final episode, he was credited as Galloway (though not named on camera).

** There's also Lt. Hadley, who appeared in 62 of the series' 79 episodes (usually filling in for Sulu or Chekov when one of them was unavailable) but never got a single line of dialogue.

** One of the sequels, [[Creator's Pet|The Rob and Phillip Show]] cast a couple of these.

* Brad the Pianist on ''[[Glee]]''. He literally does nothing but play the piano for the kids. Has received several lampshades.

'''Santana:''' He's just furniture. Sorry, no offense. ''(Brad shrugs)'' }}

** Matt Rutherford and Mike "[[Lampshade Hanging|Other Asian]]" Chang count as well, at least in the first season. They were generally two of the most skilled dancers on the program, but neither spoke more than a line or two. They ended up going in opposite directions; Matt wasn't named until after several episodes, and then [[Put on a Bus]] in the second season, whereas Mike's dancing was featured more and more and eventually became a recurring character and Tina's romantic interest in season two. Tina herself had become this due to lack of development and complete solos, addressed as a major plot point in an episode aptly titled "Props".

** One background character who fit the stereotype of a butch lesbian earned the [[Fan Nickname]] "Alex Sapphic." Eventually she was scene standing with another random extra, deemed her girlfriend "Leslie Bean."

* Cow in ''[[Word World]]''.

* Not surprisingly, ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' has a few. Wendell Borton—the pale and queasy kid in Bart's class—rarely has lines, much less an impact on the plot (though this may more be a case of [[Demoted to Extra]], as they had a few lines early on). Policeman Eddie is mainly a prop too. Most of the police business is between Chief Wiggum and Lou.

** This was lampshaded in an episode where Chief Wiggum becomes commissioner:

[[Category:Characters As Device]]

[[Category:Cast Filler Tropes]]